A Cuyahoga County prosecutor was fired after admitting he posed as an accused killer's ex-girlfriend on Facebook to persuade witnesses to change their testimony.
Former Assistant County Prosecutor Aaron Brockler said he did nothing wrong, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"Law enforcement, including prosecutors, have long engaged in the practice of using a ruse to obtain the truth," Brockler, 35, a county prosecutor since 2006, told the Plain Dealer. "I think the public is better off for what I did."
County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty disagreed. "This office does not condone and will not tolerate such unethical behavior," McGinty said. "He disgraced this office and everyone who works here."
McGinty also said that "creating false evidence, lying to witnesses" also has hurt the prosecution's credibility in the murder case.
The murder case concerned Damon Dunn, 29, of Cleveland, who was to stand trial for the shooting death of Kenneth "Blue" Adams on May 18, 2012, at a car wash. Dunn gave the names of two women as his alibis during the time of the shooting.
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Brockler said "breaking the alibis" was the key to his prosecution strategy and that he had to "act fast." So Brocker posed as Dunn's fictitious ex-girlfriend and mother of his supposed child to chat with both of the women. Brockler said the news caused the women to change their stories. He kept a log of the chats in a file and then went on a two-month leave. While away, he received a call from another prosecutor taking his place on the Dunn case and questioned him about the Facebook transcripts found in the file.
Brockler was removed from the case and then "gave contradictory statements" that caused his dismissal, McGinty said. The prosecution said that his actions were not "standard operating procedure."
Brockler said that he's not sorry for what he did, and sees his firing as a "massive overreaction."
